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Emails indicate UPrep brawl could have been prevented

PITTSBURGH — A large fight at a Pittsburgh city school could have been prevented, according to emails newly obtained by Target 11’s Rick Earle.

The internal emails obtained from employees at University Prep in the Hill District raised concerns about safety in the school months before the Feb. 29 brawl, which involved 33 students and left four people injured.

The first emails given to Earle were dated from October.

One line said that "four security officers are stressed out and overwhelmed." Another section stated, "I'm afraid they are just going to walk into the building and have drugs or a weapon on them."

More emails about security came in January and February.

One dated just days before the fight read, "No one should have to work in a school that is out of control like it is the Allegheny County Jail."

Rick Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield Garfield Corp., which works with UPrep students, said his group has heard about fights and other security issues at the school dating as far back as last year.

“I think as a large public institution, the school district was very slow to respond to these reports," Swartz said. “The district has its work cut out for it, and the fact that it was ignored or overlooked or relegated to a lower priority is going to come back to haunt the district.”

The district declined Earle's request for an on-camera interview. However, school officials sent him a statement that said they were aware of safety concerns prior to the fight and that they added security officers. They also said they provided extra school police officers during lunch, as well as for arrivals and dismissals, giving UPrep more security officers than any other school in the district.

Another email from the day of the Feb. 29 fight described the chaos. It said "there were so many fights that we could not keep up with them. Kids and teachers hurt laying on the floor."

City and school police responded to the brawl.

Sala Udin, a former city councilman, is a member of a special task force formed after the fight to address problems at UPrep.

Earle asked Udine if the district failed.

"Yes the district failed, and we tell them that all the time. So don't look at the kids when they are simply acting out of your failure," Udin said.

He added that when some Pittsburgh schools closed in 2008, and children were brought in from different neighborhoods, the district promised a high-performing school at UPrep. But that hasn't happened.

"That promise has not been kept, and we are insisting that that promise be kept by the school district. That is why the focus now is on the new superintendent. We want to know if they are aware of that promise and if they intend to keep it,” Udin said.